Continuous brew water kefir?

[gabbyraja]

I'm really just getting into ferments, etc, but I've been doing non-dairy milk kefir for about a week. Already I find it tedious to strain and start over every day. I am getting some water kefir grains soon (thank you Pat!) and I think this is going to be a pain. And I know my children will be more likely to drink it liberally if it's readily on tap. I have 5 kids and 3 adults in the house, so I think we could go through a large enough amount quickly. We're also trying kombucha very soon, too, though. When researching kombucha I came across the continuous brew method and I LOVE it! I;m thinking this would work great for water kefir, with just some removal of the grains when they get too high for the spigot.

I came across this old locked thread and I'm trying to revive it to see if anyone has done this and can comment on its effectiveness?

http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/619106/continuous-brew-water-kefir

[Koalamom]

Subbing as I would love to hear how this goes!

[gabbyraja]

FYI, I've been doing the continuous brew water kefir for months now and it's working awesomely. Every now and then the spout gets clogged up and I run a pipe cleaner through it. Otherwise, it's great. My kitchen is not very warm (whole house is around 70 all day and 65 at night) so they aren't growing/reproducing fast, but they're working great and we're getting good kefir from it. I highly recommend.

[momofkkkkk]

Would you please post some further information about your continuous brew water kefir? I am just learning about the continuous brew aspect of both kombucha and WK, and am very interested. I have slowed down a bit in my consumption b/c sometimes it is just a nuisance to 'do the duty'. Thanks for your help!

[gabbyraja]

Sure. We ended up getting fruit flies in our wk and pitched it. I saved the grains and froze them, hoping that would kill any eggs that might be in there. We will be moving in a few weeks and I just gave it up until after we move. Then I will deal with it.

It worked very well. I had it in a big glass beverage dispenser. About once a week I would pour in some new water and sugar and give it a little stir. That was it. I was making ginger water kefir in flip top bottles weekly from it. It was awesome. And could literally not have been simpler. Ask me any questions you might have, and GL!